This invention relates to an automatic analyzing apparatus for measuring or detecting object substances in specimens such as immunity analysis utilizing the reaction between antigen and antibody, and chemicobiological analysis and the like, which is intended to perform the analyzing treatment at high speed and to make compact the apparatus itself.
A hitherto used automatic analyzing apparatus for measuring object substances in specimens fundamentally comprises, in an exemplary apparatus for immunity analysis, a reaction portion for causing a specimen substance to act on a reagent commensurate therewith in a reaction vessel, a detecting portion for detecting signals derived from the reagent, and a cleaning portion for removing the specimen substance or unreacted reagent or cleaning reaction liquid which has completed its reaction, these reaction, detecting and cleaning portions being arranged on a line or on turn tables.
FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary analyzing apparatus of the prior art for measuring object substances on one line. With this apparatus, first a reaction vessel is transferred from a stocking portion 50 for storing reaction vessels onto a line 52 by means of a transfer unit 51. A sample collected from a sample rack 53 is dispensed into the reaction vessel located on the line 52 by a dispenser 54, and a reagent is dispensed from a reagent storage portion 55 into the reaction vessel by means of a dispenser 56.
After the lapse of a constant reaction time, the reaction vessel is subjected to a cleaning treatment (BF separation) at a cleaning portion 57 and a marker reagent is dispensed from a reagent storage portion 58 into the cleaned vessel by means of a dispenser 59, and after the lapse of a constant reaction time the reaction vessel is again subjected to a cleaning treatment at a cleaning portion 60.
After termination of the cleaning treatment, a reagent is dispensed into the reaction vessel in a light-emission reagent storage portion 61, and after the lapse of a constant reaction time, the reaction vessel is located at a light measuring portion 62. After the termination of the measurement, the reaction vessel is transferred to a discarding position 64 by a transfer portion 63.
With such an automatic analyzing apparatus of the prior art, however, as the treating capacity of the apparatus increases, the processing line problematically becomes lengthy (in case of turn tables, their diameters become large). Such a problem is particularly acute in an apparatus as shown in FIG. 14 whose processes include pretreatment and predilution (which means such a dilution to be previously performed preparatory to a next step).
In connection therewith, there is a procedure which uses reaction plates capable of simultaneously treating a plurality of specimens to perform measurements by transferring specimens and reagents to respective exclusive ports with the aid of these plates in reaction, cleaning and detecting processes. With such a procedure, however, treatments are carried out after samples have accumulated to predetermined amounts, which is a so-called “batch processing” different from the “real time processing”. It is, therefore, impossible to increase the speed in treatment and to control reaction times for measurements, so that it is difficult to perform the treatments at higher speeds (to shorten the lead time).
In case of measuring immunity items employing the reaction in the heterogeneous method (for example, two step sandwich method), cleaning after first reaction and also cleaning after second reaction are needed. In case of performing cleaning operations at reaction portions, it is required to provide, for example, magnets for magnetically collecting magnetic particles used as carriers in measurement system and further two cleaning units so that such an apparatus would become complicated. In addition, because of movements of the reaction portions required for dispensation of reagents, it would be difficult to provide the sufficient time for the magnetic collection of magnetic particles described above and the time for the cleaning.